Barbara Bernard: Time to bring back FDR's work concepts, the WPA and CCC

File photoMembers of the Civilian Conservation Corps are shown here enjoying some leisure time at an unidentified Massachusetts camp in this undated photo from a 1984 exhibit at Holyoke Community College. The Civilian Conservation Corps was among the programs begun during the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt

I was just a child during the years of the Great Depression, but I am old enough to have had caution issued to me about the importance of saving and not wasting. The caution has remained with me all my life.

Most of my generation got this advice which is probably why we are more careful with our money, why we aren’t embarrassed to buy day-old bread, pick up pennies on the street and save as much money as we can for that “rainy day.”

We definitely are the earliest recyclers. We never threw anything away. Our weekly trash barely filled a small container.

One of the memories for me of the Great Depression is the struggle which families had when the bread winner lost his job. There were vegetable gardens, patches on clothing and lowering of heat sources. There was eagerness to do any kind of work.

A neighbor of mine who lost his job as a school teacher found one as a street sweeper. No one was ashamed to do any kind of work.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt was instrumental in pulling the country out of the doldrums with the Works Progress Administration. This and the Civilian Conservation Corps were methods of accomplishing two needs.

People needed jobs, and there were many things falling apart in the country whose repairs could provide those jobs. Roads needed repaving. Forests needed to be cleared. Buildings needed to be erected, and clean-ups were necessary. Although these programs did a turn-about in improving things which needed to be fixed, mainly they took people off public assistance.

I am not sure if these programs are what President Barack Obama has in mind for getting people back to work. My logic is that if people are unemployed instead of extending unemployment benefits for a year or signing up for welfare checks and if there were these jobs, then instead of checks for unemployment or welfare men and women would be paid for working.

Reinstituting the concepts of WPA and CCC would solve two of our nation’s modern problems, unemployment and infrastructures desperately in need of repair.

When I bring this suggestion to friends I am met with the answer if people are forced to take a job with the threat of losing assistance because the law says they must work they could be surly, arrogant and use ploys so the employer does not keep them. I am told there is not strong pressure from social workers to get people to take jobs for fear of recriminations.

With so much work to be done and so many people without jobs what a shame we can’t get them together as was done years ago with WPA and CCC.

I know bridge building, road paving and such work require training, but years ago training was done on site.

When the CCC was in my hometown, young men were taught how to use a saw. With just a few lessons they learned the skill, and forests were cleared, buildings were built and salaries were earned. Some of these men later took the skills they learned to open their own businesses as builders and landscapers.

The WPA was a godsend to my hometown. WPA workers shoveled snow and mowed grass. They did not get rich doing this, but they made sufficient wages to care for basic needs. They maintained their pride by not having to accept financial help.

I’m surprised politicians have not tried to instigate a renewal of these programs. Whenever discussion groups get on this subject, there is that gnawing thought that years ago there was pride in being independent and providing for oneself and one’s family. There are certainly people who feel that way today but obviously not enough.

Cities try very hard to provide jobs for young people during summer as lifeguards and playground supervisors I also know that some employers need some extra help during the summer, and college students especially are happy to get these jobs. They are temporary, but they serve a double purpose.

Maybe some of the WPA and CCC jobs would not be permanent, but going on the concept that every little bit helps, temporary employment is better than nothing.

There are people who want to remain in their own residences but need help with lawn mowing, sidewalk shoveling and house work. I wish unemployment agencies had lists of people who would be willing to do these jobs. Those who would like to hire them could call or visit the unemployment office and hopefully hire the help they need. These are just small jobs which need to be done but for the big ones it would mean lengthy employment.

I hope the WPA and CCC ideas are considered. Programs like these are win-win situations. Since the country has to distribute support money and there are so many infrastructure and other things to be repaired or constructed, doesn’t it make sense to do it this way?

And, what a morale booster for someone who has been out of work to finally last have a job which pays a survival wage.
Barbara C. Bernard, of Holyoke, is a columnist for The Republican.